Every Monster Hunter game, ranked
All 5 Monster Hunter games we hold, spanning 2015 to 2025: 4 ranked by the GamingPickz Score and plotted below, the rest listed in release order so nothing in the series is missing. Together they carry 988,093 Steam reviews.
Where to start
- For the best-reviewed: Monster Hunter: World (GamingPickz Score 8.5), the highest-rated entry we can score.
- For canon order: begin with Monster Hunter Generations (2015) and follow the release-order timeline below.
The Monster Hunter games on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueThe same 4 games, plotted rather than listed. The two axes below are the ones the ranking is built from, so a game sitting high and right is a game the formula placed near the top. Change either axis to see the field a different way. Where we hold a publisher wordmark, the game is drawn as its mark rather than a dot.
4 games have both
Axes are fitted to these 4 games rather than the full 0 to 100 scale, because a filtered list shares a narrow band and would otherwise sit in one corner. End values are marked. A point on the left edge is the lowest of thesegames, not a low score.
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
4 best Monster Hunter games, ranked
Ordered by GamingPickz Score. Every figure links back to the source that produced it.
- 1
Monster Hunter: World
Best for: The safest bet on this list, by weight of evidence
8.5GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceMonster Hunter: World at a glance Released 2018 Studio CAPCOM Co., Ltd. Player sentiment 89% positive of 516,159 Critics 88/100 Price $29.99 Steam Deck verified Install size 52 GB Accessibility 6 declared features Raw 89% shrinks to 89.0 on 516,159 reviews, then blends with the 88 critic aggregate, giving 8.5.
What the data supports- 89% positive across 516,159 reviews is a strong signal at that volume, where a few enthusiasts cannot move the number.
- Valve has tested it and rates it Verified on the Steam Deck.
- 2
MONSTER HUNTER RISE
Best for: Playing through with a friend online
7.9GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceMONSTER HUNTER RISE at a glance Released 2022 Studio CAPCOM Co., Ltd. Player sentiment 83% positive of 125,878 Critics 86/100 Price $39.99 Steam Deck verified Install size 36 GB Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 83% shrinks to 83.0 on 125,878 reviews, then blends with the 86 critic aggregate, giving 7.9.
What the data supports- Valve has tested it and rates it Verified on the Steam Deck.
- 3
Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin
Best for: Playing through with a friend online
7.4GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceMonster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin at a glance Released 2021 Studio CAPCOM Co., Ltd. Player sentiment 83% positive of 17,179 Critics 82/100 Price $39.99 Steam Deck verified Install size 28 GB Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 83% shrinks to 83.0 on 17,179 reviews, then blends with the 82 critic aggregate, giving 7.4.
What the data supports- Valve has tested it and rates it Verified on the Steam Deck.
- 4
Monster Hunter Wilds
Best for: The safest bet on this list, by weight of evidence
5.5GamingPickz Scoremedium confidenceMonster Hunter Wilds at a glance Released 2025 Studio CAPCOM Co., Ltd. Player sentiment 49% positive of 328,877 Critics No aggregate Price $39.99 Steam Deck verified Install size 75 GB Accessibility 8 declared features Raw 49% shrinks to 49.0 on 328,877 reviews, giving 5.5. No critics data, so that weight was redistributed across the rest rather than counted as zero.
What the data supports- Valve has tested it and rates it Verified on the Steam Deck.
- Declares 8 accessibility features, well above the catalogue norm.
- Cloud saves and cross-platform play, so progress follows you between machines.
Only the 4 Monster Hunter games with Steam review data can be scored and ranked. The complete series, scored or not, is charted in order below.
Best and worst entry
The best-received Monster Hunter game we can score is Monster Hunter: World at 8.5. The lowest is Monster Hunter Wilds at 5.5, a 3.0-point spread across the series. The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
How the series scored over time
GamingPickz Score against release year, 2018 to 2025. The later entries score lower than the earlier ones: the series has been trending down.
Cheapest way in, and best value
- Cheapest right now: Monster Hunter: World at $29.99. Prices are read live from Steam and move.
- Best value: Monster Hunter: World, the most GamingPickz Score per dollar in the series at its current price.
On a Steam Deck
Valve's own Deck compatibility rating for the Monster Hunter entries on Steam:
- Verified: Monster Hunter: World, Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, MONSTER HUNTER RISE, Monster Hunter Wilds
Platforms across the series
Where the 5 Monster Hunter games have landed, counting every entry we hold:
| Platform family | Entries |
|---|---|
| PC | 4 of 5 |
| Nintendo | 1 of 5 |
The Monster Hunter series, game by game
Every Monster Hunter game we hold, in release order. Each description is the game's own, from Steam where it has a listing and Wikipedia for the older entries, never ours.
- 2015
Monster Hunter Generations
not scoredMonster Hunter Generations is an action role-playing game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo 3DS. Announced in May 2015, the game was released in Japan as Monster Hunter X in November 2015 and internationally in July 2016. Like other titles in the Monster Hunter series, players undertake quests that… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Following the 2015 Tokyo Game Show , the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association named Monster Hunter Generations as one of ten winners for the "Future Division" Award . Prior to the game's launch, Capcom expected to sell 2. 5 million copies of Monster Hunter Generations by March 2016. (Wikipedia)
- 2018
Welcome to a new world! In Monster Hunter: World, the latest installment in the series, you can enjoy the ultimate hunting experience, using everything at your disposal to hunt monsters in a new world teeming with surprises and excitement. (Steam)
Plot
In an unnamed high fantasy setting, humans and other sentient races have set their eyes on the New World, a separate continent from the populated Old World. The New World is an untamed wilderness where many powerful monsters roam free, and where researchers have been drawn to uncover new mysteries. Several ocean-bound Fleets have been sent already to establish working bases, safe from monsters, and operations are led by the Research Commission. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Monster Hunter: World received "universal acclaim" from critics on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, and a "generally favourable" reception on PC, according to review aggregator website Metacritic . Reviewers generally praised the game for being able to retain and not sacrifice the core Monster Hunter formula while opening it up to be amenable for new players to the series, being able to take advantage of the higher processing power of consoles… (Wikipedia)
- 2021
A new adventure awaits you in this second installment of the turn-based RPG series set in the world of Monster Hunter! Become a Rider and form bonds with friendly monsters known as Monsties to fight alongside them as you take part in an epic story. (Steam)
Plot
The story begins with the mass disappearance of Rathalos around the world seen at a festival on Hakolo island, as well as large pits emitting a strange, pinkish light appearing everywhere. As the descendant of the legendary Rider named Red, the player character has a fateful encounter with a white-haired Wyverian girl, Ena, who has been entrusted with a Rathalos egg by Guardian Ratha. A Rathalos with small black wings bursts out of the egg, which is said… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin received "generally favorable reviews" according to Metacritic . PCGamesN writes about the game "While the repetitiveness of its turn-based battle system can become frustrating, Monster Hunter Stories 2 is more than a novel twist on the main series' core components. " Sales According to Famitsu , the Nintendo Switch version of the game sold 137,676 copies at retail to rank as the best-selling game in Japan… (Wikipedia)
- 2022
Rise to the challenge and join the hunt! In Monster Hunter Rise, the latest installment in the award-winning and top-selling Monster Hunter series, you’ll become a hunter, explore brand new maps and use a variety of weapons to take down fearsome monsters as part of an all-new storyline. (Steam)
- 2025
The unbridled force of nature runs wild and relentless, with environments transforming drastically from one moment to the next. This is a story of monsters and humans and their struggles to live in harmony in a world of duality. (Steam)
Plot
A group of explorers led by former hunter Fabius finds a boy named Nata in the wasteland. Nata claims to hail from the Forbidden Lands, a harsh, uncharted region of the Old World that was presumed to be uninhabited. Nata's people, the Keepers, were attacked by the "White Wraith", a monster previously thought to be extinct . (Wikipedia)
Reception
Critical response Reception Monster Hunter Wilds received very positive reviews from critics. According to review aggregator platform Metacritic , the PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Windows versions of the game received "generally favourable", based on 104 and 45 critic reviews, respectively, whilst the Xbox Series X version received "universal acclaim", based on 14 critic reviews. OpenCritic determined that 95% of critics recommended the game. (Wikipedia)
Monster Hunter, head to head
Two entries side by side on score, price, specs and reception:
Monster Hunter vs other series
How Monster Hunter stacks up against other series in the same genre, as a whole:
Also: Monster Hunter vs Yakuza, Monster Hunter vs Deus Ex, Monster Hunter vs Risen, Monster Hunter vs The Witcher, Monster Hunter vs Torchlight, Monster Hunter vs Dragon's Dogma, Monster Hunter vs Dungeon Siege, Monster Hunter vs ELDEN RING, Monster Hunter vs Gothic, Monster Hunter vs Hades, Monster Hunter vs Heroes of Hammerwatch, Monster Hunter vs Kingdom Come, Monster Hunter vs Kingdoms of Amalur, Monster Hunter vs Middle-earth, Monster Hunter vs Mirror, Monster Hunter vs Nioh, Monster Hunter vs South Park, Monster Hunter vs The Surge, Monster Hunter vs Two Worlds
Common questions
How many Monster Hunter games are there?
We hold 5 Monster Hunter games in the catalogue, released between 2015 and 2025. 4 of them carry enough Steam data to rank; the rest are listed in release order below, including console-only entries with no Steam listing.
Which Monster Hunter game is best?
By the GamingPickz Score, Monster Hunter: World rates highest at 8.5. That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, computed the same way for every game, not our opinion. The full ranking is above.
What order should I play the Monster Hunter games in?
Release order is listed below, from 2015 to 2025. For most series that is also story order, but we list dates rather than telling you a canon; the timeline is read from Wikidata.
More franchises
Browse every game franchise ranked the same way, or head to the full grid.